


Empty Space

by kitkattz



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Child Jake, Disabled Character, Disabled Jake, Gen, Parental Dirk, Platonic!!! DirkJake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 06:11:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11052954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkattz/pseuds/kitkattz
Summary: Dirk had never been keen on having or raising kids, but when a disabled boy comes into his life by means of a terrible accident, Dirk is certain he's never made a better choice than to accept legal guardianship.





	Empty Space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnarchistRedeemed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnarchistRedeemed/gifts).



> Spoiler, Hal is a bad tempered cat that just kind of showed up at Dirk's apartment one day and has since taken up permanent residence as Dirk's bitchy cat roommate who's only nice when there's food involved.
> 
> Dirk feeds him anyway.

Your original plan hadn't included adopting a kid, especially not at your current age, and it definitely hadn't included paying for said child's medical expenses.

Not that anything ever goes according to plan anyway, and it wasn't like you could resist saying you would be the legal guardian when your older brother explained who's grankid he was, or when he looked at you with those incredibly sad green eyes.

You were present when the doctor explained why he couldn't move his legs, and that he probably never would be able to. You were there to sit on the side of his bed and hug him, to hold him gently until he cried himself to sleep, and you were the one to lay him back on the lumpy hospital mattress and tuck the thin covers back up over him and his bunched up scrubs.

Dave had explained what happened when you left the hospital room to fill out paper work and call your insurance to add another person. He was sitting in the waiting room, shades still on to hide his face, even though you could tell he was doing his best not to cry. Jade and Jake had been walking to the park late in the afternoon and were hit by a drunk driver, and Jade had barely managed to protect Jake. She was killed on impact.

You hadn't known Jade personally, but it was in her will that Dave would be in charge of Jake's custody were something to happen to her, and you know that Dave and Jade had been hardcore penpals and they had met on the set of the first SBAHJ movie. Jade had been at least thirty years his senior, but from what Dave had told you of her, she acted half her age— if that. She was a child at heart, and when she had gained custody of her grandson, she made sure to instill true childhood happiness into Jake during the four short years she had him. Dave was in no state to raise another kid— he barely raised you at all and you were kind of on your own from age seven on once he got popular in Hollywood. (Which kind of explained your reclusive nature.)

You don't really leave your house much at all except to grocery shop and for midnight running in the park, which isn't safe at all but you always carry some kind of weapon anyway and you're a black belt in karate, so you'd be fine if you got jumped. The good thing is that you'd be home to raise the kid, at least, and the more you think about it the less opposed you are.

Sure, you know jack shit about parenthood, but it can't be that hard, right? If Dave could do it, you can do it ten times better.

~•~

After all the bullshit at the hospital and a day of processing, you head back in to get to know the kid you're adopting.

He seemed to just be waking up, his small hands fisted and rubbing at his bright green eyes when you open the door. One of the nurses had helped him change into a set of his own clothing after he said the scrubs were too itchy. You wouldn't argue that, you hate hospital clothes and can only imagine how bad it sucked to be stuck in them for three days straight after having his spine set back in place. It takes you half a second to realize how fucking stupid that thought was; what happened prior was a shit ton worse than just dealing with itchy scrubs.

You withdraw from your thoughts when he looks up to see you in the doorway. It seems to take a second for him to recognize you, but when he does he offers a tiny smile, and you head over to sit on the side of his bed like the day before.

"Hey, Jake," you greet softly, taking one of his arms to help him into a sitting position when he struggles to do so himself. "I know I met you yesterday, but my name's Dirk."

Jake doesn't respond verbally, but he stares at you for a long time.

"Is it okay if you live with me for a while?" You ask him, and Jake makes a contemplative face before nodding yes. "Do you like movies? We could watch a movie."

He nods vigorously at the offer of movies, and you can't help but smile lightly. You're about to ask him what movie he wants to watch when Dave opens the door, rolling in the wheelchair.

"Dave!!" Jake all but yells, raising his arms and waving a bit in a way you recognize as a sign to be picked up. You do exactly that, carrying him over to Dave, where he practically launches his upper body at your brother.

"Sup, Jake?"

Jake has his small arms wrapped around Dave's neck, and you hand him the rest of the way off, noting the pained look on Dave's face when Jade's grandson hiccups a bit. He pats Jake's back, moving from side to side in a comforting way, and you feel like you're intruding on something incredibly personal. 

After a long moment, Dave motions to the door, and you're quick to open it for him, pushing the wheelchair along as you follow him out.

With his hands full, one rubbing Jake's back and the other supporting his legs, you take up the job of doorman, giving Jake a soft pat on the head as you jog out to the parking lot to bring your jeep around to the front of the building. It takes you a second, but you manage to collapse the wheelchair, sliding it into the trunk and securing it with some bungee chords you never got rid of. As you pull up, you reach back to open the back drivers side door for the two, and Dave slides in with Jake still in his hold. You wait for them to separate and for Dave to get Jake buckled in before driving forward at a crawl through the parking lot, rolling the window down for Jake.

Jake takes notice of the window after a moment, turning to rest his arms on the window's framework and his chin on his arms. His eyes remain closed and his face in the wind most of the way back to your apartment, a small three bedroom one bath on the outskirts of the city. You managed to do a little cleaning the night before— its not like you ever sleep during normal hours anyway —and you're pretty sure its clean enough to introduce Jake to your home before it gets hectic again.

Dave carries him to the elevator, where Jake looks amazed and mildly confused when it began to move. He asked if Dave was a wizard when the elevator opened to a floor that wasn't the lobby. You push the wheelchair out of the elevator, holding the door open as Dave steps out with Jake, grinning.

"Somethin' like that. Hey, Jake, what d'ya say we race when you get used to that thing? I'll use that shi— _crappy_ skateboard I've got, yeah?" Dave asks, and Jake glances over at the wheelchair before nodding. "Cool."

"Cool," Jake repeats, and you smile a bit as you reach your apartment, unlocking it and nudging the door open. You collapse the wheelchair and carry it into the room you've set up for Jake, reopening it to roll it up to the bedside in a place you think Jake could probably reach if he needed to. You reach for the right hand arm rest, pulling the wheel lock mechanism so it wouldn't roll if weight was put on it.

Dave heads in with Jake in hand just as you were pulling down the bed's comforter. Jake was taking in the entirety of the apartment, but his eyes quickly land on the robotic rabbit you'd placed on his bedside table. It was set as a protection for Jake, and you had already introduced a picture of Jake to the little robot; the rabbit's primary function was to act as a protector in any situation which you couldn't do so or were unaware of danger. You highly doubt the possibility of the second option, but better safe than sorry, you guess.

You lean over to switch the rabbit on, watching its lenses brighten and the tiny copy of your own shades on its face light up with a large smiley face as it waved to Jake. The kid is enraptured immediately, waving back almost frantically. Dave moves to set him down on the bed and Jake reaches for the rabbit, the robot jumping up with his sword, which is actually just a fridge magnet in the shape of a sword, in hand. Its a mini combat droid, but you thought the tiny sword was a nice addition.

Maybe you could teach Jake to sword fight. You were a bit younger than him when Dave started teaching you. When he gets used to you, maybe you could introduce him to your other robots too. Sawtooth and Squarewave would probably be able to keep him entertained if you had to go somewhere and couldn't bring him along.

Oh shit, you're already starting to think like a parent.

~•~

After Dave tucks Jake in and gets him all settled, he heads out into the sitting room, where you're waiting on the couch.

"So where's that demon cat of yours?" Dave asks, all but collapsing onto the couch, legs nearly whacking you in the face.

You mutter a curse and shove him off the couch entirely.

"Dunno," you shrug. "Hal's not really _my_ cat. He just showed up one day and I feed him sometimes."

Dave rolls his eyes, climbing back up to sit next to you like a normal human being. "He's totally your cat, bro. There's literally no way he'd stick around if he didn't like being here."

"All I do is give him food. Don't see how that makes him my cat since he's just here to eat," you tell him, leaning back into the couch.

You're _so_ tired, you really should sleep more.

"Speak of the devil," Dave says, jerking a thumb to the right, where Hal is peering into the guest bedroom where Jake is sleeping, the red and black tomcat's tail swishing.

"Hal," you call out waving your hands to try to catch his attention; you don't know if Jake likes cats. Hal glaces sidelong at you, seeming to quirk one of his eyebrows (which are actually just oval-shaped fur markings above his eyes), and then promptly ignores you, turning back to the guest bedroom and striding inside, hopping up onto the bed to get a look at Jake.

You hadn't realized that Jake was still awake, but what you see as you walk into the room definitely surprises you. Hal has seemed to warm up to Jake more in half a minute than he ever had with you. Jake is holding the tomcat, petting him and smiling as Hal purrs away and rolls over. His paws stretch out, nails clinging to Jake's t-shirt as the boy laughs and scratches behind his ears.

"Well, I'll be damned," Dave says from beside you, shades pushed up into his hairline and eyebrows raised in surprise. "I thought that cat would hate everyone forever."

"That makes two I guess. He likes Roxy."

"Huh. Wouldn't have guessed. Must've smelled Frigglish or something," Dave mumbles, and you shrug. "At least he doesn't hate Jake."

"What's his name?" Jake asks, and you give him a grin before replying.

"That's Hal. You're lucky, 'Lil man, he usually doesn't like people," you tell him, and it takes Dave's surprised stare for you to realize what you said.

You used the pet name Dave had used for you when you were a kid. Dave looks confused, like he didn't think you'd remember it, and you choose to ignore him to sit down on the end of the bed, watching Hal bat at Jake's hands harmlessly, keeping his claws sheathed. As long as Jake likes Hal and Hal doesn't do anything shitty, you don't see any problem.

Eventually, both Jake and Hal settle down and fall asleep, and you can't help but do the same; Dave and you both fall asleep while trying to stay up to watch the latest SBAHJ movie he's been talking about. Apparently he was pretty proud of it, but it wasn't much of anything special to you. You opt not to tell him that.

~•~

Dave's loud voice wakes you up in the morning, and you groan, rolling over, only to fall off the couch. The fuck? You actually slept on the couch?

Not that that was unusual, but you hadn't even meant to fall asleep at all. Was Jake up yet? Dave's on the phone, so you don't know how Jake could possibly sleep through that.

With that thought in mind, you push yourself up from the floor, brushing some popcorn kernels off you and grimacing as you stand. You should probably vacuum.

Nah.

You avoid Dave, not appreciating how loud he's being so early in the morning, and knock gently on Jake's door. The boy mumbles something that you think is an affirmative to enter, and you head in, grinning a bit when you see Hal's still asleep on Jake's lap.

"Can we go to the playground?" Jake asks, and you're surprised, mainly because those are the first actual words he's spoken to you since you became his legal guardian.

"Yeah, sure." You nod, heading quickly to Jake's side when he tries to get up on his own. "Woah there, broski, don't hurt yourself. You're healing, remember?"

Jake huffs a bit but doesn't argue when you pick him up to deposit him into the wheelchair.

"Do you think I might be able to walk again?" Jake asks quietly, and you pause momentarily before telling him the truth.

"Dunno, man. You might be able to, but you know what you can do with this?" You ask, motioning to the wheelchair. "This thing is like your throne on wheels, you can basically fly with it. I can show you when we get down to the sidewalk if you want."

Jake nods at that, and you push the wheelchair out of his room, Hal emerging from under a pile of blankets and trying to follow along.

"Goin' to the playground, Dave. Be back in a while," you call out to your brother, who raises a hand in a wave as you wheel Jake out the door—nudging Hal away before closing it—and to the elevator.

Jake seems mildly apprehensive while you wait for the elevator door to open, and you give him an awkward pat on the shoulder, Jake glancing up at you when you do.

"You okay?" You ask him, but he pauses a second before nodding.

"Can I still climb trees?" He asks, and you honestly have to debate your answer for a second.

"'Course, and even if you can't do it on your own, I could help. You could sit on my shoulders or something."

That seems to help a little, even if he still radiates sadness. You understand why, of course, but you'd like to help him feel better. Losing a family member sucks. You don't remember much about your parents, but Dave does, and he was really fucked up for a long time after they died.

When the elevator finally makes its way up to your floor, you move a hand out in front of the door so it won't close while Jake rolls in. It takes him a moment to get the chair going, and he bumps into the far wall of the elevator when he can't stop in time, but it's mild, and he smiles a little when he bounces off and goes rolling backwards. Once you stop the wheelchair's movement, Jake settles down again, watching the numbers slowly move down to ground level on the light bar above the elevator doors.

"Why isn't there a floor one?" He asks as the elevator stops to let you out.

"Dunno, kid," you tell him, honestly. "Just isn't I guess. Maybe people just don't like the number one. Must be unlucky or something, like having a floor thirteen."

Jake considers that for a moment before twisting around in the chair to look up at you as you roll him down the sidewalk. "Maybe there's a secret button like in Indiana Jones and we need to find it to reach floor one," he theorizes, and you grin at the enthusiasm.

"Maybe," you say, "or maybe we're just gonna find a basement full'a spiders and shit."

"Spiders are cool," Jake tells you. "So are cats. I like your cat."

"I think my cat likes you too," you reply, and Jake gives you an enchanted smile.

"Really?"

"Really."

~•~

Jake flings his arms out to his sides as you push the wheelchair down a hill, making sure to keep an eye on the sidewalk for any cracks or small stones. You're not moving very fast at all, barely a jog, but Jake seems to be having a blast. Plus, the exercise would do you some good, you've been a little too stressed about school and work to actually go out and exercise. Since Jake got here, you've barely given your usual stress a stray thought, and it's starting to worry you a little. You're normally an anxious mess, but having a kid around has caused you to completely disregard the more mild reasons that caused you stress in the past.

He's only been here a day and a half and the kid is already changing your life— go figure.

Your thoughts get the better of you and you miss a small bump in the sidewalk, but Jake only seems to enjoy it more, crying out and laughing at the sudden jarring motion. There aren't many people out and about so early in the morning, but those that are consist mainly of early bird runners and half-asleep businessmen mulling down the road to their office jobs. 

Most people don't bother with cars, and the cabbies are already out and about, yelling out their windows at each other and honking loudly as they haphazardly pull toward the sidewalks to pick up early morning travelers. It's obnoxious on some level, but you've grown used to it over the years. Jake, on the other hand, still spooks a little with every honk.

When the two of you finally reach the park, after weaving in and around the growing crowd, Jake stares at it with awe. Off to the right, there is a gigantic, platform playground with a manual merry-go-round, a kid-size mini zipline, and monkey bars surrounding the entire thing. There are a few slides, but Jake seems focused on the monkey bars, and you wheel him over to the playground before lifting him up onto your shoulders and letting him grab onto the bars. He manages to pull himself up a little ways before settling back down on your shoulders. You walk under the bars as he grabs onto them, and soon he's smiling again.

When he's had his fill of the monkey bars, Jake points at the twisty slide and you take him over there, depositing him at the top and waiting down at the bottom of the slide for him. Jake pushes off from the hand holds and squeaks in excitement as he spins down to you.

There are a few curious onlookers and you're glad that Jake is unaffected and solely focused on getting back up the slide, doing his damnedest to do it on his own. You let him, watching him huff a little and get halfway there before sliding the rest of the way back to you and giggling despite his failure.

"Here you go, little dude," you tell him as you redeposit him back up on the slide again.

He keeps sliding down and letting you put him back up at the top for about a dozen runs before he gets tired of the slide and lets you return him too his chair. He's not done, obviously, but he's not making you carry him everywhere, which is a blessing in itself- kid is fucking heavy, Jesus.

When Jake points at the swings, you shake your head, amused, and roll him around the slide to them. He's not exactly talkative, but he definitely knows what he wants.

After pushing him on the swings for a few minutes, you realize with a kind of soft bewilderment that you're enjoying this as much as Jake is, and, honestly, you don't think you've ever made a better decision than to agree to take the kid under your wing. Sure, it wasn't a part of your original plan, but fuck plans. Not like anything ever goes the way you expect it to anyway; you might as well enjoy it.

You decide to drop the train of thought and focus on the kid you're pushing on the swingset, Jake's happy face making you wonder just when you decided you didn't want kids, and why the hell you thought you didn't in the first place.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I'll continue this, but I like where it's going so there's a possibility of that should the inspiration to do so strike me.


End file.
